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The chair of the Toronto Police Services Board is calling for an independent review of police contacts with citizens, particularly youth from different ethnic and racial backgrounds.

Alok Mukherjee is recommending city auditor general Jeff Griffiths “collect and analyze” race-based data from police contacts with citizens and report back with a baseline study and recommendations by the end of 2013.

“The issue of police contacts with members of the community, in general, and racialized young people specifically is one of significant and long-standing public concern,” Mukherjee wrote in his recommendation, made public Thursday in the
police board agenda
.

He cited “widespread public concern” about the nature of police contacts,
Star
investigations showing disproportionate levels of contact with “racialized” citizens and a 2008 report by former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry and former legislative speaker Alvin Curling that probed the
roots of youth violence
as reasons to look deeper.

Mukherjee’s request follows
Known to police
, the latest installment in a decade-long
Star
investigation into race, policing and crime in Toronto, which analyzed police contact card data and highlighted the inherent tensions created by police stops of youth, many of them black or brown.

When it came to youth, a
Star
analysis found the number of black and brown males aged 15 to 24 who had been documented since 2008
outnumbers the actual populations
of young black and brown men who live in the city.

Police Chief Bill Blair, who has made improvements in the racial makeup of the service and is widely seen as a police role model for race relations, has acknowledged since becoming chief in 2005 that racial bias is a reality in policing.

Blair would not comment on the recommendation and, as is his protocol, will discuss it with the board first, said a spokesperson.

In previous interviews with the
Star
, the chief has defended the documenting of citizens as good police work and has stressed that his officers use intelligence-led decisions to target areas plagued by violent crime, and that it has worked to reduce these crimes in those areas.

Police document the most contacts and deploy a specialized approach called Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy in these areas, which are poorer and among the city’s 13 “priority” or at-risk neighbourhoods.

There are more single-family households, fewer meaningful jobs and less education and employment in these areas, which are home to more newcomers and non-whites.

Police say these factors — and the fact that many of the people documented in these areas do not live there — help explain the differences in the
Star
analysis.

But Mukherjee, who was given an advance copy of the analysis, said he found the differences “hugely problematic, regardless of what explanation is provided by the police service,” and that he would take the matter up with the board.

“No explanation can provide a credible alternative reason for the significant discrepancy in the contact between the police and young people from different ethno-racial backgrounds.”

Mukherjee’s recommendations will be discussed at the March 22 meeting of the seven-member civilian police board.

A review by the city auditor general of police practices is not unheard of. In 1999, the office released a review of how the service handles sexual assaults and made dozens of recommendations.

Mukherjee’s proposal leaves it to the auditor general to determine how to establish a “baseline” data set, or snapshot of the current situation.

Mukherjee is seeking:

•
An independent review of existing police data, which would include data already obtained by the
Star.

•
An assessment of the impact the contacts may have on public safety.

•
A look at how the police interactions affect public perception and trust in the service

Black men, particularly young black men, who were interviewed for the current and past
Star
series say they feel harassed by police who stop and question them, and that whatever legitimate rights they may have to refuse to answer feel moot.

Police fill out hundreds of thousands of contact cards each year, in all parts of the city. Between 2008 and mid-2011, police filled out 1.2 million cards where skin colour was noted as black, brown, white or other.

The vast majority of such interactions result in no charges being laid.

Black cards represented 25 per cent of the total, yet blacks make up 8.3 per cent of the city’s population. A
Star
analysis found 30 per cent of Toronto police charges for serious violent crime were laid against black people.

The contact cards are entered into a database used by officers following crimes. Officers search for connections to others, and possible witnesses and suspects. Many police services keep similar data.

Already, a strained relationship between police and youth in one neighbourhood is showing signs of improvement.

After youth and youth workers at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weston-Mt. Dennis shared their experiences and perceptions in a
Star
article, the club and the new unit commander in the area have been in touch.

A planned summer event will bring many community voices involved with youth together with police.

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